File - Silver Fern Flag

SILVER FERN FLAG
A FLAG FOR NEW ZEALAND
silverfernflag.org
1 FLAG
SIGNIFICANCE
ELEMENTS
A stylised Silver Fern, kaponga, a New Zealand icon for well over 160 years, has been worn proudly by many
generations of New Zealanders, from sports people, to military personnel, police, and fire-fighters. The silver
fern is an element of indigenous flora representing the growth of our nation. The multiple points of the fern
leaf represent Aotearoa's peaceful multicultural society, a single fern leaf spreading upwards represents that
we are all New Zealanders - one people - growing onward into the future.
The Southern Cross, Māhutonga, is the defining element in the present New Zealand Flag, and represents
our geographic location in the antipodes. The Southern Cross is visible throughout the year in the southern
night skies. It has been used as a navigational aid for centuries and it helped guide early settlers to our
islands. Each star is also representative of the major island groups of New Zealand - North Island, South
Island, Stewart Island, and the Chatham Islands.
COLOURS
Black represents the pride and strength of New Zealand, and since 1975 is a gazetted official NZ colour.
Red is a significant and prestigious colour to Māori, Red represents our heritage and also represents the
sacrifice made by all New Zealanders during wartime.
Blue represents our clear atmosphere and also the Pacific Ocean, which surrounds our archipelago nation,
over which all New Zealanders, or their ancestors, crossed to get to New Zealand.
White represents Aotearoa, ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’, the Māori name for New Zealand. The colour
white also represents peace.
2 SILVER
FERN
Why use a Silver Fern? Quite simply, a flag is meant to be flown. Flags should be highly visible symbols of a nation's
presence. A visit to any town in the USA or Switzerland, for example, shows what happens when a flag is an emotional
symbol. The New Zealand flag needs to have emotional symbolism in order for it to be embraced and used by New
Zealanders. In many instances, a flag is used in an international context. There is no question that the Silver Fern is the
most recognised symbol of New Zealand. For over a century and a half the Silver Fern has been the emblem of our sports
men and women. The Silver Fern is used extensively as a symbol by Government, tourism, trade organisations and
commercial brands. it's on our money, it's on our passports, it’s on our national airline, our rockets, it even appears on
our war medals, and memorials. The Silver Fern says "New Zealand".
3 SOUTHERN
CROSS
Why include the Southern Cross? For hundreds of years the Southern Cross has been a big part of our history, celestial
navigation helped bring early settlers to our islands and the constellation places us geographically in the antipodes.
Our unique red-starred version of the southern cross should be kept, as it is part of our history, the stars first featured
on our ensign of 1869, (made official in 1902) and it is believed they were coloured red to honour Māori. There are
different traditional interpretations of the Southern Cross, and it is known by at least eight different names in Māori.
Tainui Māori saw it as an anchor, named Te Punga, of a great sky canoe, while to Wairarapa Māori it was Māhutonga – an
aperture in the Milky Way through which storm winds escaped.
When New Zealand soldiers sailed off to fight in South Africa in the Boer War at the beginning of the 20th century, they
sang: ‘We are the boys of the Southern Cross, our stars shine on our flags’. Over a century later the constellation
continues to be relevant to nationhood and national honour. For example it is depicted on our Tomb of the Unknown
Warrior, unveiled in 2004. Featured on the lid of the tomb, the stars are seen to have guided the unknown warrior back
to New Zealand from distant battlefields. The Southern Cross also featured in our first coat of arms of 1911. Finally New
Zealand is the only country on earth with the Southern cross on its flag where the constellation can be seen throughout
the year, and throughout the entire country on a clear night, despite having the Southern Cross on their respective flags,
the northern regions of Australia, Brazil, and other nations don’t see the Southern Cross at night all year round.
4 SERVICES
Consideration would need to be given to lesser known flags flown by various services such as the Royal NZ Navy. At
present the navy raises a white version of the NZ flag called the white ensign. In the past there have been various attempts
to design future services flags, all with varying degrees of success. Upon flag change, we could follow examples set by
other commonwealth nations and put a future national flag in the canton, or 1st quarter (the top corner nearest to the
flagpole) and the emblem of the service organisation in the fly (the 2nd and 4th quarters of the flag furthest from the
flagpole). Canada did this quite successfully with their joint services and Air Force ensign, seen in the examples below.
The Canadian Air Force Ensign Canadian Joint Forces Ensign Present NZ Police Ensign The Canadians simply removed the Union Jack and replaced it with their present flag. It would follow that NZ would do
the same upon flag change, for example, a future New Zealand Navy flag could include the existing navy emblem which
features an anchor, and silver ferns.
Services flags can be updated easily when flag change occurs, and we can easily follow a precedent set by the 53 other
commonwealth nations who have updated their flag since World War Two.
NAVY
ARMY
AIRFORCE
MARITIME
CUSTOMS
CIVIL AVIATION
POLICE
FIRE
5 SERVICES
Another approach to services flags would be to use the silver fern device in a similar fashion to the United Kingdom’s
Union Flag based service ensigns, this would mean replacing the Union Flag with the Silver Fern, and sometimes replacing
the Southern Cross with the shield of the service it represents in the fly.
Existing Air Force Ensign Proposed Air Force Ensign NAVY
ARMY
AIRFORCE
MARITIME
CUSTOMS
CIVIL AVIATION
POLICE
FIRE
Concept drawings by Steven Squires and Kyle Lockwood.
P O S T E R S
6 1. ANZAC Day poster - 25th April 2015
2.
3.
4.
Some criticise the fern as being solely about sport, the fern has
also been a services symbol since the 1890s – 12 June 2015
It’s time for a NEW Zealand Flag – 5 June 2015
New Zealand has been separate from the UK since 1947, it’s time
our flag reflected New Zealand’s maturity – 20 June 2015
DESIGNER
7 KYLE LOCKWOOD
DIP D ARCH, DIP ARCH TECH, MNZIOB
Kyle Lockwood was born in Wellington, his family connections to New Zealand span centuries, his Māori
ancestors and some of his European ancestors were in New Zealand prior to the signing of the 1840 Treaty
of Waitangi.
His interests include drawing, design and photography. From an early age, he was often drawing the ships,
aircraft, and buildings he could see from the front window of his grandparent’s seaside home.
Kyle attended Massey University, in Wellington, where he studied two architectural qualifications and
graduated as top student in 2001. It was at Massey where he first drew sketches for the Silver fern flag.
The Silver Fern Flag first won a flag design competition in July 2004. Since then he has had widespread
support for his flag from all over the world, including support from Graham Bartram, Secretary-General of
the International Federation of Vexillological Associations, Chief Vexillologist of the Flag Institute, and
consultant on flag protocol to HM Queen Elizabeth II.
Kyle achieved a world-first when his flag designs were voted first and second place in New Zealand’s national
flag referendum of 2015.
Today Kyle works as an architectural designer in Melbourne, and like many Kiwis he has moved abroad for
work experience, he has been involved in the building industry internationally for over 20 years, in New
Zealand, Australia, the Cook Islands, and Singapore. Kyle is also an overseas member of the New Zealand
Institute of Building.
Further Information about the flag can be found at silverfernflag.org